Philadelphia is the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Pennsylvania.  As of December 31, 2007, more than 10,000 Philadelphia residents are living with AIDS.  Minority communities and areas of concentrated poverty are disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS.  For an overview of the geographic distribution of AIDS cases in Philadelphia click on the map below.

Demographic Trends

The Changing Face of HIV/AIDS

Since the beginning of the epidemic in the 1980s, the demographics of persons living with HIV/AIDS have changed dramatically.  What was once a disease of white gay males, has now come to impact persons of all races and genders, with African-American females as the fastest growing risk category.  Recent years have seen a decrease in new infections among injection drug users (IDU), probably due to the implementation of needle exchange programs.  New infections among men who have sex with men (MSM) had been on the decline, but may be increasing again.  Heterosexual transmission, once accounting for only a small percentage of new infections, now accounts for over half of all new AIDS cases.  Over the last five years, the proportion of new AIDS cases among African-American females has increased.  These demographic changes represent significant challenges to AIDS service providers and prevention programs across the city, and highlight the need for continued vigilance in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Click Here for Graphs of Demographic Trends

Data Requests

The AACO surveillance unit provides aggregate data to numerous agencies and AIDS service providers across the city.  Requests for aggregate data not available on this website should be made via email to the surveillance epidemiologist at: aacoepi@phila.gov.  Please include information detailing time period (e.g. past 12 months, 2001-2005), subgroups (e.g. African-American females), and any geographic units (e.g. zipcode).  AACO provides data for Philadelphia County only.  Please allow 7-10 working days for completion of all data requests.

Current  Surveillance Projects

Medical Monitoring Project (MMP)

The Medical Monitoring Project (MMP) is a population-based surveillance system used to assess clinical outcomes, behaviors and the quality of HIV care. The methodology involves selection of patients currently receiving care using a three-stage sampling design, an n-person interview of eligible patients, and abstraction of their HIV-related medical records. This project will provide data about met and unmet needs for HIV care and prevention services which can be used to evaluate these services and to direct future resources. Data collection began in January of 2006. In the first cycle of MMP in Philadelphia, 215 persons were interviewed. The second cycle of MMP began in January 2008 and is ongoing.

National Health Behavior Survey (NHBS)

AACO has been funded to participate in developing and implementing a national surveillance system to monitor behaviors that place people at risk for HIV infection. The overarching goal is to help direct and evaluate local and national prevention efforts by identifying behavioral trends in sexual activities and drug use among MSM, IDU, heterosexuals in conjuncture with their access to and utilization of HIV testing and other prevention services funded by state and local health departments.

Incidence Surveillance

The purpose of HIV Incidence Surveillance is to provide reliable and scientifically valid estimates of the number of newly acquired infections at the local, state, territorial, and national levels. Determining the incidence of HIV infections will assist local HIV prevention program planning and evaluation by providing data that will accurately characterize current HIV transmission. Estimates of incidence will also be able to be made across multiple groups including underserved populations such as women, IDU, and individuals of low socioeconomic status. The less sensitive ELISA assay will be used on remnant sera from all newly diagnosed HIV infections. The assay will distinguish between new infections, within 1 year of testing, and prevalent ones. The results will be used to calculate population-based estimates of HIV incidence. Data collection began in July of 2005. Incidence estimates at both the national and local level are expected mid-2008.

Never In Care (NIC)

AACO has been funded by the CDC to design and implement a supplemental HIV/AIDS surveillance system to monitor HIV-infected persons who have never received HIV-related medical services (HIV care). The principal objectives of this system will be to identify barriers to receiving care and to estimate the additional resources needed when these individuals are linked to care. The project will involve identifying, locating and interviewing persons with an HIV diagnosis who are not receiving HIV care. In addition, blood spots will be collected to determine their immunologic status. Data collection is expected to begin in early 2008.

Enhanced Perinatal Surveillance (EPS)

The purpose of Enhanced Perinatal Surveillance is to assess missed opportunities to prevent perinatal transmission of HIV and to determine the impact of prevention efforts. Data is collected on maternal prenatal care usage, maternal HIV test history, prenatal and neonatal antiretroviral therapy, other interventions to prevent transmission, receipt of prophylaxis and treatment by the infant, appropriate followup care of the mother and child, and other interventions relevant to the evaluation of recommended public health actions to prevent perinatal HIV transmission. Data collection is ongoing.

Links

Quarterly Epi Updates

 December 2006